Chemically treated paper products--towel and tissue

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are soft, absorbent and bulky cellulosic fibrous webs which have been treated so that they impart a soothing or emollient effect to the human skin when used for wiping or drying while essentially retaining their water-absorbent property and strength. The agent used in the present invention is a condensation product of an amino acid with a reducing sugar.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 082,203, filedAug. 6, 1987.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to soft, absorbent and bulky cellulosic fibrouswebs which have been treated so that they impart a soothing or emollienteffect to the human skin when used for wiping or drying whileessentially retaining their water-absorbent property and strength. Theagent used in the present is a condensation product of an amino acidwith a reducing sugar.

2. History of the Prior Art

It has heretofore been suggested to treat cellulosic fibrous webs withlanolin to impart a feeling of softness to the webs. See, for example,Wemyss, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,877,115 and Yang, U.S. Pat. No.2,944,931 or with other fatty solids, see Britt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,305,392However, such a treatment has the disadvantage that the water absorbencyof the cellulosic web is dramatically reduced by the application ofthese fatty-type materials, so that the web can no longer satisfactorilyperform a wiping or drying function in reference to moist skin.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has as its object rather than imparting thefeeling of softness to cellulosic webs, the imparting to the human skinan emollient or soothing effect through wiping with a cellulosic webwhile retaining the drying and strength characteristics of the untreatedweb. In many environments such as hospitals and clinics, persons arerequired to frequently wash and dry their hands. This can produce skinirritation, particularly in cold weather. Also, persons suffering fromthe common cold must frequently apply facial tissues. Also peoplesuffering from diarrhea must use large quantities of toilet tissue.Repeated wipings with treated toilet tissue has been found to conditionthe perineal region so that it maintains a non-irritating condition.Likewise, a soft feeling is achieved after using facial treatment in themanner of this invention so that the nasal skin is left with a velvetysoft feeling even after repeated wipes.

The present inventors have found that the water absorbency canessentially be retained while imparting a skin soothing character towebs for drying or wiping the skin by treating soft absorbent cellulosicwebs with glucose glutamate. Products made from such webs exhibit theability to transfer chemicals from the cellulosic fibrous web to theskin generating emollient benefits while concomitantly successfullyexecuting the previous function of the product which is to wipe or drythe skin. Webs treated with lanolin, by contrast, are markedly inferiorin producing the desired benefits and are even perceived in some casesas irritating or to cause itching. This may be attributable, not only tothe fact that some people are allergic to lanolin, but also as observedby Jacobi, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,472 dry skin is not caused by theloss of fat material in skin but by the loss of the water solubleconstituents therein. In accordance with the present invention, aglucose glutamate condensation product of an amino acid with a reducingsugar is applied to a web of cellulosic fibers in an amount from 0.1 to2% by weight of the web. The presence of small residual amounts ofglucose glutamate on the skin, after hand drying, materially aids inrestoring and maintaining the moisture balance necessary for healthyskin. This condensation product is disclosed and described in detail inU.S. Pat. No. 3,231,472, incorporated herein by reference. As will bereadily appreciated, the fact that the polymers of the present inventionare water-soluble totally distinguishes the treatment of the presentinvention from that of the lanolin treatments of the prior art. The highmolecular weight polymers of the present invention are commerciallyavailable from Wickhen Products, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of DowCorning, under the brane name WICKENOL.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purpose of illustrating the present invention, paper webs havinga basis weight of 54 g/m² (32 rounds per ream of 2,880 square feet) weretreated in the finishing process at a point after the paper has beenunwound from the parent roll and embossed, but before the slitting,folding, cut off stacking and wrapping processes. The treating fluid,comprising the active ingredients dissolved in water, is applied at arate to yield the addition of between 0.034 to 1.086 g/m² (0.02 to 0.64pounds per ream) of the WICKHEN compound or 0.1 to 2.0% by weight of theweb. For toilet tissue such as Scott COTTONELLE or 2-ply facial, anotherexample illustrating the present invention could be paper webs havingbasis weight of 27 g/m² (16 lbs. per ream) of 2,880 square feet weretreated at location similar to that disclosed above. The treating fluidcomprising the active ingredients dissolved in water is applied at arate to yield an addition of between 0.017 to 0.543 g/m² (0.01 to 0.32lbs./ream of the compound or 0.1 to 2% by weight of web.

Any application technique known in the art which does not unduly compactthe web and which evenly distributes the fluid at the desired rate ontothe paper web may be employed. These application techniques includespraying, transfer roll coating and gravure printing. If compactioncaused by gravure printing is considered too great to the finishedproduct, this step may be carried out prior to the step of bulking byembossing. The amount of compaction which can be suffered is influencedby numerous variables such as the original bulk of the web, consumerexpectations regarding bulk and the perceived need for patternedprinting which can be achieved by gravure roll methods. The presentinventors have found that the benefits perceived by users are bestachieved by spraying the treating fluid onto the web.

Two sheets were prepared as follows:

EXAMPLE 1

A paper web having a basis weight of 31.2 pounds per ream of 2880 squarefeet (52.9 grams per square meter) was sprayed on one side of the sheetwith a Wickenol formulation containing 3.75% glucose glutamate insolution to yield a lotionized sheet containing 0.27% glucose glutamateby weight of the web.

EAMPLE 2

A paper web having a basis weight of 33.1 pounds per ream of 2880 squarefeet (56.2 grams per square meter) was sprayed on one side of the sheetwith Alcolac lanolin (RRT-1-200A) containing 5% lanolin in solution toyield a lotionized sheet containing 0.27% lanolin by weight of web.

Towels fabricated from sheets made in accordance with the precedingexamples 1 and 2 and a control towel were tested by a panel of nurses toevaluate the condition of their hands after repeated drying of theirhands. Sensory perceptions are, of course, subjective; however, theresults, it is believed, validly rank the towels in relation to oneanother. The testing procedure asked participants to compare thecondition of their hands after four dryings with a control towel againstfour dryings with a test towel. The control towel consisted of untreatedpaper towels, commercially available as SCOTT Brand 150 C-fold towels.All test towels were kinder to participants' hands than the controltowel, as evidenced by the percentage stating their hands felt the sameor better after the dryings. The length of time it took to dry handswith the control towel and the test towels was the same. On average, thedrying time was sixteen seconds. The testing procedure comprised a washand dry sequence as follows: one wash and dry with control towel,followed by one with test towel; four wash and dry sequences withcontrol towel followed by four with test towel; and finally five withtest towel. In the test of towels made in accordance with Example 1(Wickenol), at the end of the test 58% of the participants said theirhands felt better, 17% said they felt the same and 25% said their handsfelt worse. In the test of towels made in accordance with Example 2(lanolin) at the end of the test, 27% of the participants said theirhands felt better, 9% said they felt the same and 64% said their handsfelt worse.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of simultaneously absorbing water oraqueous body fluids from the human skin while imparting to the skin anemollient effect by wiping the skin with a web of cellulosic fiberstreated with an emollient composition consisting essentially of awater-soluble emollient, said emollient comprising glucose glutamate inan amount from 0.1 to 2% by weight of the web.